The Hitachiin Princess
by HarrahBug
Summary: When Emi and Chizuru were born, their parents arranged for them to be married to the Hitachiin brothers, Hikaru and Koaru. Now the Lei company is in dire need of assistance from the Hitachiin family and the marriages between the families is the only thing securing the deal. When Chizuru meets a tragic end, Emi is forced to decide between the brothers on who she'll marry.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

Emi had never heard worse news than what she was hearing now. It felt as if her heart, no, her soul had been ripped from her being and shredded into billions of tiny pieces. She clutched at her chest and tried desperately to regain the breath that seemed to allude her. _No_ , she thought. _It can't be_ … Emi's knees sank to the ground, she found that her legs were no longer able to support her. How could something so terrible happen to her? Surely this was a dream, surely this couldn't be real. But the stinging of tears behind her eyes, the raging ache of her heart, were the proof that she was awake. She leaned her head back against the wall and stared up at the miniature chandelier that hung above her head in the hallway. Odosa and two policemen sat in the other room and she could faintly hear their spoken condolences as they stood to take their leave. Emi raked shaky fingers through her hair and bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. She could taste the blood on her tongue. Emi watched as her odosa silently escorted the two policemen to the door and saw that they were thanked for going to the trouble of delivering him the unpleasant news. He hadn't noticed Emi's presence in the hallway and once the door was closed, he leaned his head against the wall and let out a shuddering cry of remorse.

Emi kept her eyes focused on a scuff mark on the floor that the police officers had left behind. She was hopelessly trying to convince herself that this happening had never occurred, but the mark was blatant proof of their visit and of the news that they had to give.

"Emi," her odosa gasped once he had collected his composure and turned to find her kneeling on the floor. Emi didn't look up or respond to him in any way. She simply pulled herself up onto her feet and made her way up the stairs to her bedroom. But she couldn't bring herself to turn the knob, or even touch it for that matter. It was a room that they shared, her and her twin sister. She didn't want to go in and see the messy bed sheets and the impression that her sister had left on the mattress. Emi's odosa followed her up the stairs and stood behind her silently, waiting for his daughter to speak. He wanted her to say something, anything. The silence was almost unbearable.

"We leave for Tokyo on Friday, right?" Emi finally spoke, her voice devoid of any emotion. Emi's odosa couldn't find the right words to say so he simply responded,

"Hai."

It'd been a week since the death of Emi's twin sister, Chizuru, and she was finding it hard to cope. Emi couldn't seem to sleep in the large, king sized bed because of the missing presence beside her. Emi and Chizuru had shared a bed ever since they were born and when that other presence was suddenly gone, Emi found it hard to close her eyes at night. Emi and her odosa had come to Tokyo in order to have an engagement conference with the Hitachiins and deal with the required formalities. Emi had been the fiancée of Hikaru Hitachiin ever since birth, and Chizuru had been engaged to Koaru Hitachiin. But what was to be done now? One of the Leis was gone and Emi surely couldn't marry both of the Hitachiin twins. Her odosa's business relied on the marriage of his daughters to the Hitachiin brothers and now it was all falling apart. He would lose his daughter and his company within the same year if something wasn't done to prevent the Lei corporation from being bought out by the Grand Tonnerre Group, it was something they couldn't afford.

And so here they were, anxiously awaiting the arrival of their conference counterpart. Emi had seated herself at the cushioned seat beside the window and was staring out at the busy world below them. Tokyo sure had a lot of people. Emi realized that she was glaring down the busy bodies below and clenched her hands into tight fists. Why couldn't it have been one of you? She found herself thinking furiously when the door to the conference room was suddenly opened and in stepped Hitachiin-sama and his two sons, Hikaru and Koaru. They entered with smiles on their faces, it was apparent that they were unaware of their situation. Emi's odosa quickly gathered himself onto his feet and gave them a bow, something in which they returned. Their smiles soon dripped off their faces though once they felt the darkened aura of the room.

"Lei-san, is something wrong?" Hitachiin-sama asked out-right, stepping further into the room to proper stand before Emi's odosa. Lei-san struggled to find the words to explain his situation and soon gave up on sounding professional when he explained the death of his daughter.

"Chizuru… She had an accident," Lei-san began. Wide eyes greeted him as he gave a ragged sigh and collapsed onto the couch. Lei-san ran a shaky hand over his face and took in a deep breath to calm the emotion rising in his throat.

"What happened? Is she alright?" Koaru spoke up, his voice seeming loud in the quiet atmosphere of the room. Lei-san shook his head and clutched at his hair.

"No… No, she's not alright. She –" Lei-san couldn't find it in him to say the words out loud. Emi made it easy for him and uttered two, painful words that made everything much more real to her than anything else.

"She's gone," she said, her voice soft and muffled by the collar of her hoodie.

"What do you mean… 'she's gone'?" Hikaru asked, placing his hand on Koaru's shoulder. But Emi didn't answer his question, she simply turned her head to meet his eyes and they understood.

By the end of the conference, it was concluded that Emi would marry one of the brothers, but deciding which one was the problem, so they left it up to Emi herself to decide. She would be staying with the Hitachiins for the rest of the year. Her odosa thought it would be good for her to get away from the house, from the memory of her sister, and so he agreed to let her stay at the Hitachiin manor in order for her to grow closer to the brothers so that she could make a sound judgement on who she desired most to marry. He also hope that the company of the brothers would provide some sort of comfort to her silent suffering. Emi had never been one to share her problems or feelings with others, at least not to anyone other than Chizuru. She'd agonize for days without saying anything until Chizuru had badgered the words out of her, and even then it took several hours just for her to get out the entirety of her sorrows. Emi's odosa sincerely wished that she would open herself up to the brothers, hoping that the connection of the Hitachiin brothers to each other would inspire the will of connecting to similar beings. It was a foolish wish, but he wished nonetheless.

And foolish it was. Once Emi had settled in at the Hitachiin residence, she isolated herself in the guest bedroom and refused to come out except for meals. Hikaru and Koaru attempted several times to lure her from her makeshift cage, but to no avail. It was on the third day of her seclusion that Hikaru and Koaru gave up on the gentle approach. With one sound kick, the door to her bedroom fell to the floor. The Hitachiin brothers entered the room without so much as an, "Excuse me." Emi pulled the blankets down to uncover her eyes, and stared blankly at the angry expressions that greeted her. She knew this was coming, the Hitachiin twins weren't known for their patience.

"Do you want to play a game?" Emi spoke before they could assault her with their raging lecture. Hikaru and Koaru quickly closed their mouths and gave her a curious stare.

"What kind of game?" Hikaru asked suspiciously. Emi sat up in bed and let the blankets fall away from her scantily clad form.

"A guessing game, of the sorts," she said, brushing her bangs back from her face. Her fierce gaze met his then and Hikaru found his mouth going dry. The Hitachiin twins raised their eyebrows in question.

"How do you play?" the Hitachiin brothers asked in perfect harmony. Emi felt a sharp stab in her chest. Her hand reached up and covered the whole of her heart.

"If I can guess which of you is Hikaru and which of you is Koaru, will you do something for me?" Emi asked, her voice coming out weaker than she intended. Their eyes widened in surprise.

"No one's ever been able to tell you two apart, right?" Emi continued, pushing them to play the game. "Why don't you give me a shot?"

The Hitachiin twins glanced at each other with uneasy expressions, but they both agreed to go along with Emi's game.

"You have to give a reasoning…" Koaru began.

"As to which of us is which," Hikaru concluded. Emi nodded and stared intently at the two boys that stood before her. It took her only a single moment for her to see the difference of the two boys before her. Or rather hear the difference.

"Hikaru," Emi pointed to the twin on the left. The twins widened their eyes at her answer.

"Your reasoning?" They pushed for her answer. Emi shrugged and fell back against the pillows.

"Koaru's voice is slightly higher in pitch than Hikaru's. It's so slight that it's hard to tell the difference, but it's there. When Hikaru's not around, Koaru is rather normal and well behaved while, Hikaru, on the other hand, becomes noisy and bad mouthed. Also, Hikaru's speech in general is much more blunt in content," Emi explained. She'd done her observations a long time ago. Emi had wanted to know everything there was to know about her fiancée, which included being able to tell which twin was which. "It's easy to tell which of you is which when you recognize the two of you as individuals instead of two parts of one whole. You may be twins, but you are two different people," she concluded, rolling over onto her side. The twins were silent for a long while before they decided to ask her what it is she wanted from them.

"What is it you want us to help you with?" Hikaru asked, his heart beating loudly in his chest. He was sure Emi could hear it from across the room. Emi sighed and closed her eyes.

"Sleep," she said.

"Sleep?" the twin repeated in question. Emi nodded and clenched her hands into fists around the bed sheets.

"I can't sleep alone…" Emi mumbled, tears of embarrassment building up behind her closed eyelids. The Hitachiin brothers understood what she meant then, for they too found it difficult to find slumber when the other was missing. Hikaru and Koaru pulled their shirts over their heads and smoothly climbed into bed to surround Emi with their presence.

"Is this better?" They whispered softly into her ear as their arms wound around her midsection. Emi relaxed in their grasp as she gave her reply.

"Hai."

In what seemed like no time at all, Emi drifted into a deep, comfortable sleep nestled warmly between the bodies of the Hitachiin brothers.

 _(A/N: Odosa is how you say "father" in Japanese. I will be using bits and pieces of Japanese here and there, such as "hai" which translates into yes or okay, as well as a few other phrases. This story takes place after the last episode of the Ouran High School Host Club anime television series. Please enjoy!)_


	2. Chapter 2

"Why am I here?" Emi asked, irritated, glaring at the twins from the corner of her eye. "I don't want to have anything to do with your hentai club." Emi turned on her heel and gave the twins a wave, "Bye bye."

"Wait! Emiii!" The twins yelled, catching Emi up under her arms and holding her up between them as they walked back towards the entrance of the music room #3 door.

"It's our duty to make sure you enjoy your time here," Koaru said.

"And what better way to do that than with the Host Club?" Hikaru finished.

"We excel in providing happiness and entertainment for lovely princesses, such as yourself!" the twins raved, stars of self-pride shining in their golden eyes.

"I'd rather not," Emi deadpanned, kicking her legs between them in an attempt to get them to let her go.

"Too bad!" They said happily, pushing open the double doors together.

Emi let out a screech at the brightness of the people that sat in the room, the hairs all along her body standing on end. She felt goosebumps rise on her arms and legs and used what she could of her hands to block her eyes from their beaming, welcoming smiles.

"It's… too… much…" Emi ground out from behind clenched teeth, her breathing much more labored than usual.

"Welcome to the Host Club!" the twins shouted, finally setting Emi on her feet and pushing her forward with a grand "Ta-da!" Emi shielded her face with her arms and shrank down into a ball on the floor. The Hitachiin brothers let out an impatient sigh and grabbed her up under her arms once more and dragged her over to face the members of the host club.

"Konichiwa, Emi-chan!" A small, Lolita-type boy holding a stuffed, pink bunny said, smiling down at her. Emi peaked up at him from behind her hands and decided that he was so cute that she didn't mind if his beauty blinded her. She squinted her eyes and bore with it.

"Ko…nichiwa, senpai…" Emi responded, bringing one arm away from her face as she stood up to her full height. Emi knew that at her full height she was not too far from the ground, but the fact that she actually had to slightly crane her neck to look up at the small third year made her feel very self-conscious.

"Oh! She's tiny!" said the effeminate boy that stood next to the blonde second year boy in the center of the horde of beauty. Emi glowered at him and turned to slink off into the corner to grow poisonous mushrooms, but Hikaru and Koaru held out their arms in her path. She groaned and slunk down to the floor on her knees in defeat.

"I'll just grow mushrooms here…" she mumbled beneath her breath, pulling out prepackaged dirt and manure.

"Oi! No mushrooms in the club room!" the brothers exclaimed, wrenching Emi up off the floor and tossing her into the center of the horde. A hand graced her cheek and Emi found herself gazing up into gleaming lavender eyes.

"Hello, Princess. I'm Tamaki Suou, but you may call me (insert hair flip here) your prince."

Emi felt her face turn into a tomato, not from embarrassment but rather horror.

"Y-ehhh!" Emi yelled, shoving her hand into Tamaki-senpai's face to get him away. Emi lurched from the couch but the twins quickly grasped her arms and pinned her against the cushions.

This situation went on for about two hours before Emi finally resigned herself to this brutal punishment. Haruhi, the effeminate boy that Emi was almost positive was actually female, brought her tea and white cake with cream and strawberries. She stared down at the cake in wondrous bliss before she actually got up enough courage to take a bite. She sighed in pleasure and let the cake sit on her tongue for longer than necessary just to savor the taste. Stars of enjoyment sprinkled over her head.

"Haruhi! Get more cake!"

"Here, Emi-chan, you can have some of my cake!"

Emi hardly noticed the commotion that rose around her, she was lost in bliss. Cake, she silently admitted, was her weakness. Emi took her time in enjoying the dessert, only opening her eyes when her fork could no longer locate any of the remaining cake. Emi gasped in surprise at finding a mountain of cakes placed before her. Her eyes were glowing in wonder, but she quickly swatted away the sparkles and turned a glare onto the Host Club.

"I-I don't like cake th-that much!" Emi stuttered out, cursing at herself for her terrible lying skills. Chizuru was the one with the talents. She could lie without batting an eye and was comfortable in social settings. Although it was hard to tell the Lei twins apart by appearance, it was easy to do so by their personality and behavior. Chizuru was more so out-going and confident while Emi, on the other hand, was a terrible liar, hated being around other people (especially those that were particularly gifted in looks), had absolutely no talent in anything, and was rather lacking in courage and confidence. The Lei twins, in all honesty, were complete opposites. But because of that, they completed each other. One twin was the desirable character while the other had… not so desirable traits.

Emi's shoulders sagged as her thoughts took her into a world of darkness, so she had no qualms about reaching for another piece of cake. This one red velvet. Unlike the first slice, Emi shoved the cake down her throat as if she hadn't eaten in weeks only to stop halfway through. She placed her fork on the plate before setting it down on the table. Her hair concealed her eyes, but not the frown that was suddenly marring her face.

"Eh? Emi-chan, do you not like the cake?" Hikaru asked, leaning in towards her. Emi shook her head, grateful that the twins let her stand up from the couch.

"I want to go home," Emi mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

"Huh? But you just got here!" Koaru complained loudly. Emi lifted her face so as to show them her eyes. The twins held their tongues. Emi turned to the members of the Host Club and bowed.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Honey-senpai, Tamaki-senpai, Mori-senpai, Kyouya-senpai, Haruhi-senpai," Emi addressed everyone. "I'm not feeling very well right now and… Hikaru-kun, Koaru-kun, may we go home now?"

The room was silent as the Hitachiin twins nodded at her request. Emi felt her chest lighten just a fraction.

When the trio returned to the Hitachiin manor, Emi went straight to the brothers' room, leaving the door wide open so as to invite the brothers to join her. They were the only ones she wanted to see. Emi crawled up in to bed and gave a shuddering sigh. She felt the bed dip on either side of her and relaxed once she felt their arms wrap around her. It had become routine for them now since Emi would soon wake up in a crying fit if she were left alone to sleep by herself. And so their room became everyone's room where Emi would sleep in between the brothers, Hikaru on her right and Koaru on her left. She stored a small bag of clothes and toiletries in the corner of the room, off to the side and out of the way, so that she wouldn't have to go back and forth between her room and theirs to change and do other various necessities. Emi turned onto her side and buried her face in Hikaru's chest, her breath shallow and weak.

"Emi?" Hikaru whispered her name. She burrowed herself closer to him and stifled the sob that crept up her throat.

 _Why am I doing this? Why must I be so weak? Why her? Why Chizuru?… Chi-oneesan was the strong one, the desired twin out of the two of us…_ Emi couldn't help but think as she stole just a little bit of Hikaru's strength. She was like this with Chizuru too, constantly leaning on her sister because she was unable to hold herself up. Of course Emi put up a façade, faking inner strength and confidence. But once Chizuru was gone… she couldn't find the energy to do so anymore. _Chizuru_ , Emi thought, _you cheated_ …

After a long while spent in silence in bed, Emi pulled herself up into a sitting position and found that the twins had fallen into slumber. She smiled to herself and brushed the bangs back from Koaru's face. She quickly retracted her hand though, a blush forming over her cheeks. No, he's Chizuru's fiancée… Emi bit her lip then and hid her face in her hands. When she pulled back, a small pool had collected in her palms and she quickly wiped the salty water away on her shirt. Emi spent a long while staring at the brothers' faces, her eyes switching back and forth between the two. How on earth could she ever choose who to marry? If she picked Koaru then it was like she was choosing her own sister as well as giving up the boy she'd loved ever since that first day the Lei twins had been told who had been decided as their fiancées. Emi had loved Hikaru for so long that she felt it would be wrong to choose Koaru over him, but then again… these past few days had showed her that she had also developed a likeness for his brother.

Emi ripped her fingers through her hair and let out an audible groan. She carefully, quietly climbed over Hikaru's legs and stepped off the bed. With a single glance back, Emi exited the room and walked down the corridor until she came to the large library at the end of the hall. Nestled in the corner was a gold threaded chair. It sat by a fireplace that always seemed to be lit. Emi sat down on its cushions and curled herself into a ball. She felt the warmth of the fire on her arms, legs, and face and it seemed to relax her, even if just a fraction. Emi hid her eyes behind her knees, her bottom lip trembling from the emotion welling up beneath the surface. She didn't understand, didn't know what to do. Emi had been faced with this life altering decision, something she'd never faced before. Chizuru had always been the one with the answers. She was smart, quirky, and could tell right from wrong, light from darkness in the blink of an eye. Emi felt as if she were just a shell left behind from Chizuru's absence. And in a sense, she was. Or so she thought. Chizuru and Emi were practically one and the same in appearance, but Emi saw herself as something much more sinister than her sister. Chizuru was light, Emi was darkness. Now that Chizuru was gone, all that was left was the sorrow of her passing. Emi was hardly a person, a girl of independence. But now that she thought of it, Emi had never really been independent. It was always just Chizuru, never Emi. She didn't mind it though, Emi didn't enjoy company or talking to people, that was her sister's pleasure. Even though, Emi played her part and placed the façade over her reclusive, insensitive, unpleasing personality to join Chizuru in her happiness. Although the games never made Emi happy, to see Chizuru smile made those unbearable times seem more like a dream.

About an hour later, Emi awoke to find that the fire had been distinguished and a blanket had been strewn across her frame. Emi brought the blanket up to her nose and breathed in the sweet scent of the brothers'.


End file.
